Early Admission

Class Location: The Internet.

Description: This course is for those students who intend to apply for early admissions.  Learn more about the rules of being admitted early, and how it works.

Objective: Get in before everyone else!

About two-thirds of the country’s top colleges and universities offer some type of early admissions program. However, the rules vary from school to school, and often, the same language means different things at different colleges. It can get extremely confusing for college applicants, so it’s important to fully understand the benefits and obligations before applying for early admission.

Early admission means that you apply by an earlier deadline, with earlier notification of the school’s decision. There are two types of early admissions programs—early decision and early action. These programs provide several benefits to the applicants. If you know you’ve already been accepted to your first-choice school, you have a lot less pressure during the second half of your senior year and can begin preparing for the move to college earlier. The biggest benefit, though, is that schools accept a much higher percentage of early admissions applicants than those who apply for regular admission. Up to 40 percent of the freshmen at Ivy League schools get accepted during early admissions, and the top colleges accept 25 to 50 percent of their students this way.

Early decision programs are binding, meaning you must go if accepted. For this reason, you should apply to only one school for early decision. If you decline the acceptance, most of the other top schools won’t accept you, either.

Early action programs do not require a commitment with the application. You can apply to more than one school with early action and don’t have to go if you’re accepted. This way, you can get early notification from the schools and compare financial aid offers and other deciding factors. Single choice early action programs require that you apply to only that school early. But these programs aren’t binding, and you can apply to other colleges during regular admissions.

It’s unwise to apply for early decision unless you’re 100 percent sure you want to go to that school. But high school students who know where they want to go and already have the qualifications to get accepted can benefit greatly from early admissions programs.